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Some Next Big Things in Tech and Lifestyle

There are a few things that I see on the horizon for tech and how we use it that will eventually effect most people online. I thought I would share a few of my projections, since they are on my mind at the moment:

(1) Facebook and Twitter will become more and more important as communication tools.

I believe that Twitter will be like social glue between your phone, your laptop, and your social networking platform. Personally I use Twitter to update Facebook and I check my FB later to see what people think. Twitter is like the free flow of ideas and resources, Facebook is the place people actually talk about it. Those people who don’t like Timeline don’t realize how important the improvements (and interfunctionality between the two platforms) have been. I became a developer just to get Timeline early – and the ability to share and get a pulse on what people are thinking or projecting is amazing. We will see more and more growth here. 900 Million on FB, and 500 Million on Twitter. And growing.

(2) Apple TV’s (and Roku’s) imminent growth, coupled with Digital over air television, will start to squeeze out cable and dish operators. My wife and I made the split from cable long ago as a cost cutting measure (though we have probably given starbucks our savings over time). Most of our content is online through laptop or phone, and we get networks over the air on our television. I can connect my iphone to the television so we can still watch seasons, and our PS3 plays our DVD’s and BluRays – so we can buy whole seasons of shows we like. With Apple TV about to boom – Seriously – and Hulu and Netflix back in the growth seat – as long as bandwidth continues to meet demand, standard cable and dish are going to be in trouble in the near future. I’m already plotting to buy the $99 Apple TV unit that will run tons of online content through wifi.

Lastly, (3) Faith will begin to find more expression online. In the past, the internet sphere has been the domain of trolls and those who like to tear things down. I even recently read a blog about the internet being the church of Atheists, who without churches or community centers, find fellowship and debate online. With the suburbanization efforts of Twitter and Facebook, the wild west that used be the domain of search engines, is understandable to the ordinary person. In the last year, I’ve noticed more and more people of different creeds and religions join me in the spheres of talk and influence. More and more bloggers are showing up and with The Huffington Post and Patheos – there are more people talking and debating than ever. That means that the easy “Straw Man” of faith is no more. It is easy to tear people down if they are not in the room. People of faith are entering the online sphere. They are trading information, praying for each other, creating content and writing – a lot. The room is filling up and we’re seeing the awkward transition in culture. I don’t think News Media outlets in the traditional sense really know how big this is.